Former President Ma Ying-jeou has called for President Tsai Ing-wen to resign, saying that she is not sufficiently loyal to the nation. Ma was speaking at a flag-raising ceremony on Sunday morning held on the occasion of National Day. The ceremony was hosted by Ma’s KMT, Taiwan’s main opposition party.
Ma criticized what he called Tsai’s failure to acknowledge the country’s official name, the Republic of China. He said he is angered that Tsai has increasingly refrained from using this name, using the name “Taiwan” instead. Ma said that Tsai signs her bimonthly foreign affairs reports using the title “President of Taiwan”, rather than “President of the Republic of China”, her official title.
Ma also criticized this year’s National Day logo for not including the words “Republic of China”, instead including only the word Taiwan. He says Tsai’s actions and her administration’s approval of this logo demonstrate that Tsai does not support the Republic of China, and so she should step down from her position as the republic’s president.
Ma also reiterated his support for the 1992 Consensus, a tacit agreement between Taipei and Beijing under which both sides agree that they belong to one China, but both sides are also free to interpret “one China” in their own way. Tsai’s administration has rejected this consensus, but Ma said he believes it remains the basis on which peaceful cross-strait ties depend.